


Art

by laugh_a_latte



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Character Study, I think this is the closest I've ever gotten to writing something that isn't angst, M/M, Post-Squip, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:09:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22996720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laugh_a_latte/pseuds/laugh_a_latte
Summary: "There's art in the sky," Michael says one night.
Relationships: Jeremy Heere & Michael Mell, Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell
Comments: 14
Kudos: 57





	Art

**Author's Note:**

> Based very loosely on this tumblr post:
> 
> https://self-love-dude.tumblr.com/post/190794054099/yeah-a-lot-of-ppl-r-bad-but-we-also-find-art-in

“There’s art in the sky,” Michael says one night.

They’re pulled off to the side of the road, not far from school. The hood of the car is up and Michael’s sleeves are pushed up his forearms, exposing his bracelets and the slivers of skin between them. Jeremy can’t stop looking at those spaces, between the bracelets.

“Wha-?” Jeremy pulls his eyes away from Michael’s arm to the smoke pouring out of Michael’s Loser Cruiser at an alarming rate, eerily illuminated from Jeremy’s phone flashlight. The thick, sickly sweet scent of antifreeze clogs Jeremy’s nose.

Michael’s not looking at the smoke, though. He’s looking up.

“Nothing,” Michael says, shaking his head. He looks back down at his car, and the sparkle that was in his eyes a second prior is gone. Jeremy might have just imagined it, though.

Jeremy looks at the sky. He just sees darkness. 

He opens his mouth to say as much, but when he looks back at Michael, he’s got an arm halfway in the car, his tongue poking between his teeth, digging out some plug or other something that fell out and caused antifreeze to spill everywhere. The moment is lost.

~~~~~~~

Jeremy just about forgets what Michael said. That is, until it happens again, a week later. It’s early in the morning, much too early.

Jeremy hates coffee, he really does, but he needs some form of caffeination given the hour, and it’s the only caffeinated thing in the house besides dusty cans of Mountain Dew sitting in the corner under a stack of paper bags. As far as Jeremy is concerned, they can stay there, untouched, forever.

And Michael is pouring a lot of cream into Jeremy’s coffee, because Jeremy really does hate coffee, but after he pours, instead of putting the cream back in the fridge, he pauses with the carton hovering above the mug. That weird sparkle in his eye from the week prior returns.

Michael watches whatever’s happening in the mug.

Jeremy watches Michael.

“It’s pretty,” Michael says.

“What’s pretty?”

Michael blinks.

“What?” Michael says, looking up at Jeremy.

“You said . . . “ The sparkle is gone. Michael looks tired. “Nothing. Nevermind.”

~~~~~~~

Jeremy doesn’t forget about it so quickly this time, so he notices the third time this phenomenon happens as it’s happening, at lunch. Christine pauses behind Jenna on her way to her seat at the table. Christine asks Jenna something that Jeremy can’t hear because Rich is talking loudly in his ear, but he watches Jenna nod and laugh, then Christine delicately pulls Jenna’s hair back. Her fingers find the clasp of Jenna’s necklace, then move the clasp around to the back of Jenna’s neck. Christine drops Jenna's hair and smooths it out.

Michael pauses mid-chew, watching this unfold, that sparkly thing in his eyes returning, muttering something that Jeremy can’t hear over the buzz of the cafeteria.

Now Jeremy’s actively on the lookout for it.

Later that week, they’re walking down the hallway discussing something Jeremy can't remember anymore. Michael stops right beside Jeremy, and it takes Jeremy a few steps to realize he’s now talking to no one. He turns on his heel to see Michael, frozen mid-step, staring at this mosaic art thing built into the wall.

If Jeremy were being honest, he never noticed that there was a mosaic there, until now, though he passes the wall everyday. The swarm of students shoving by them without a second glance suggests he’s not the only one. For a few seconds, though, Michael’s transfixed by it.

And in those few seconds, Jeremy’s transfixed by Michael.

The straw of Michael's slushee is dangling from his lips, the bottom dripping red ice back into the cup. Jeremy’s eyes slide from the cup, over to the bracelets on his wrist, taking in every uncovered sliver of skin between. Then, they wander up to the patches placed carefully and stitched precisely onto that red hoodie of his.

He watches Michael’s constantly guarded, tense shoulders drop, and he watches Michael’s anxious, ever-bouncing feet plant into the linoleum floor, grounded, as the next second ticks by. Jeremy’s eyes move from the all of Michael up to his face, over his acne and blemishes and freckles and flushed cheeks. Right up to his eyes.

His warm eyes, totally open, unyielding, full of soft awe, a sparkle that Jeremy doesn’t realize he’s grown to crave. And that’s where Jeremy’s eyes stay.

And Jeremy thinks, briefly, so quickly he's not even sure he thought it, that maybe there is art in the sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I really did not post anything for like ever, then instead of working on any number of my WIPS, wrote this as a one-shot instead of doing any studying for midterms! I promise someday I'll be a responsible writer.
> 
> But still, any comments are still very much appreciated <3 thank u for reading!


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